Mid-19th-century French wooden cross with the instruments of the Passion and their meanings

Cross with the instruments of the Passion, wood, French work of the mid-19th century. Among the instruments of the Passion are tools resembling those of torture, for instance pincers. They refer, however, to the drawing of the nails from Christ's hands.

The sword is the one with which Saint Peter cut off the ear of Malchus. The chalice is the Holy Grail, into which Joseph of Arimathea gathered some of the Saviour's blood at the entombment. The rods with which Christ was scourged. The hammer with which the nails were driven in. The Sudarium, or Shroud, the cloth in which Christ's head was wrapped. The INRI plaque, or titulus of the Cross. The Cross itself. The vessel of myrrh with which Joseph of Arimathea or the myrrh-bearing women wiped the body of Christ. The lantern with a candle as a symbol of the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. The sponge with the drink for Christ.